DreamSinger
by Zuzuanni
Summary: Chapter 3! Annie explored! Anneke is foreign to Tortall but will soon have reason to discover her past! reloaded and longer. R
1. SheepSinger

"Lambkins! Lambkins! Time to sleep your sleepy-skins!" Anneke's sweet soprano rang out over the hillside. A few grumbling greedy sheep looked up at her but did not waste much time turning their faces back to the grass. Anneke sighed, her pink rosebud of a mouth mock-pouting.  
  
"You know, sheep, I wish that you would once, just once listen to me when I call you in. Then I wouldn't have to sing the bell-weather song. And you would all happily march up to the barn and into your pen, preferably single file, and I could go in the house and do something that does not involve sheep. And I will have you know that grass is still going to be there and it is going to be just as tasty tomorrow as it is today." She waited a moment, as if expecting something to happen. The wind blew a straw lock of straight brown hair that had slipped from her braid into her face, and Anneke, frowning for real this time, tucked it behind her ear. "Alright. Fine. Have it your way."  
  
Over the hillside Anneke's brothers laughed silently at their sister's monologue to the stubborn sheep as the girl starting singing at them again. "Bell-weather, sheep whether near or be far, bring me my sheep where ever they are. You cannot just leave me, you know it won't please me, and if you ignore me, I'll have to run find thee. So spare me the trouble; bring me sheep on the double!"  
  
Almost with a sigh the bell-weather slowly ambled away from his patch of grass, his bell ringing with such a disheartening clang that Anneke, in her more distracted moods, often marveled that the sheep followed him at all. But they inevitably did, though some of the bell weathers more ornery herds mates needed a bit of a nip or nudge occasionally. Sheep finally in a moving unit, Anneke gave a self-satisfied nod, and started over the hill to the house, bell weather close behind.  
  
"Oh darling brothers do not mock, do not laugh at me," Anneke sang in a slow, dignified dirge as the crested the rocky hill. "For I have brought you fluffy sheep as far as you can see! Sheep so proud and sheep so fair, how dare you stand and mock them there! And they all came marching down, from the hill, so get out of the way!"  
  
Joonas and Kustaa laughed as Paavo opened the gate for the sheep. "Haven't heard that one before, Annie," Joonas, the eldest, said.  
  
"That would be because I just made it up," Anneke replied matter-of-factly. She smiled brightly up at her tall brothers. Joonas ruffled his youngest sibling's dark tresses, a small, amused smile still on his handsome, tanned face. "Mama let you out of the house without a hat?"  
  
Anneke scowled. "No, but I hid it. I don't need it on cloudy days."  
  
"Of course you need it on cloudy days!" Raakel boomed from the doorway, a wide straw hat with a blue ribbon waving from her plump, sturdy hands. "The sun still shines behind those clouds, you foolish thing!"  
  
"But not on me, Mutti!" Anneke gestured around her at the open yard. The overcast sky was sunless, and had been for the past two days.  
  
"And you hid your hat in the haystack! Paavo found it as he was filling the stalls. You're lucky he didn't spear the thing! What will they say when you show up at court with freckles on your face?"  
  
"They will say," Anneke assumed an exaggerated stance of a mindless teenager, "'How odd! I've never seen freckles on a dark haired girl before! Where ever did you find them!' Honestly, Mutti, I stand out so much already, no one will notice I've got freckles."  
  
"No one will notice you at all unless they bother to look down," Kustaa joked.  
  
"Honestly Kustaa I'm not that short!" Anneke argued. "Mama says I'm taller than Miranda."  
  
"Annie, with Bernt as your father, there was no way you could not be taller than your mother," Raakel said. "I have never seen a man taller than Bernt. Nor a grown woman shorter than Miranda." Raakel was silent for a moment, remembering her late brother and his foreign bride she had hardly got to know. Anneke did look a great deal like her mother Miranda. She had the same straight dark brown hair. Anneke's face had just the same oval shape, Miranda's soft but slightly stubborn chin, and, if anything, was even paler. But Anneke's smile, her energy, that was all Bernt.  
  
"I've heard the sailors say that in other places people are shorter than us, Mama," Joonas said. "Miranda was probably average."  
  
"Yeah," Paavo agreed. He upturned his pail into the horse trough. "Where was she from again?"  
  
"Tuisane? Tortall? I'm not sure they all run together in my mind."  
  
"Tortall," Anneke said firmly, pulling a bit of snowy fleece off of her deep blue skirt. "Steward Klaes told me."  
  
"See, Mama?" Kustaa exclaimed. "She is learning how to be a real lady! She's already got her genealogy down."  
  
Anneke elbowed him in his hip, being unable to reach his ribs effectively. "That's more geography than genealogy, I'm afraid, Kustaa. And I'm afraid that Steward Klaes and Dame Elke do not believe geography to be as pertinent to a young lady's education as genealogy. Though geography strikes me as much more useful."  
  
"Bernt always taught me his geography. He didn't think it fair that he had to learn it and I didn't."  
  
"Geography is much more fun than curtseying. I should much rather-"  
  
Kustaa roared with laughter. "Do you hear her? 'I should much rather!' Oh it's wonderful! They're getting to you Annie! Ha ha! They're going to make a proper lady of you yet!"  
  
"I don't doubt it Kustaa. It's dreadfully boring."  
  
"If you're so bored, my Lady Shehrevar, then you come inside and help me finish dinner. You, my dear, can shuck the beans."  
  
"With a song in my heart, dearest Mutti," Anneke curtseyed deeply and did her best lady-of -the-court strut into the house.  
  
"Somehow, I don't doubt that," Kustaa mutter just loud enough for those left in the yard to hear. Joonas, Paavo, and Raakel stifled their laughter as they followed Annie into the house.  
  
Annie was already humming happily over the beans as Raakel returned to her mixing bowl. Anneke loved mindless activities. They allowed her to daydream, potentially for hours, uninterrupted. She tried working on a song about beans, but it just wouldn't come. The tune wasn't right. It bounced and jerked unevenly until Anneke couldn't stand the piece anymore. She cast her mind about for anything else to think about, and she landed on Tortall.  
  
Her mother had come to the Farlands from Tortall. No one had ever told her why, or whom she had come with. No one even knew much about Tortall. She had heard stories about magnificent beasts and lady knights, but everything was chalked up to fairy tales. It took two months in fair weather to reach the Copper Isles, and another two weeks before Port Legann, and that was barring any trouble at all. No one Anneke had every met had made the difficult journey, and Anneke didn't suppose she would ever meet anyone who had. Whatever relatives Anneke had, she smiled to herself at her parallels, weren't very relevant.  
  
Supper at the house in the hills tended to be a rather loud affair. Ansel and Raakel Bjornsen had four sons, adopted Anneke when she was just a baby, and employed three servants who helped them run the estate. Lately, now that they're sons were grown and apprenticed to surrounding artisans, Ansel and Raakel enjoyed their quiet evenings alone. Now with the five "siblings" home, the small dining hall was filled with shouts and laughter, and more than a little of Anneke's singing.  
  
Tonight was even more special than the last month had been. It was their last night together, for in the morning the three eldest brothers-Paavo was to be a weaver like his parents- would escort Anneke back to Castle Shehrevar, and then they would return to their masters' workrooms. Joonas especially would not be returning for a long time. His master, a sculptor, was retiring at the end of the month, and he was leaving his business to Joonas. Joonas was leaving the manor forever.  
  
The lamps were burning low when Ansel, a tall, portly man with a full beard that still showed its auburn traces, raised his pewter cup. "A toast!" he declared. "To my eldest son Joonas."  
  
"To Joonas!" they all cried. The light danced on the brown walls in time with the sound of their cheer.  
  
"May every rock, every tree, every lump of clay show him its true form!"  
  
"Joonas!" they cried again. Joonas ducked his blond head, embarrassed.  
  
"Look at him blush!" Kustaa laughed. He ruffled his older brothers thick curls. "As if he didn't know he's the best sculptor around."  
  
"Second best, Kustaa," Anneke corrected. "Master Eilert has not retired yet."  
  
"I can't believe my little Joonas is leaving us!" Astrid, Raakel's maid and the children's aged nurse, declared. Her eyes watered. "Why it seems just yesterday-"  
  
"That he was hiding sheep droppings in the oven, Mama Astrid?" Kustaa put in.  
  
"That he stole your knickers off the line and dressed the old bell-weather up in them?" Anneke added helpfully.  
  
"Oh you wretched things!" Astrid admonished them, but her eyes twinkled. She pulled Kustaa's strawberry blond horsetail. "And I'm sure you put him up to it, Kustaa."  
  
"Me? Never!" Kustaa feigned shock at her accusation. "I will have you know that I am a perfect angel." Kustaa ducked as beans besieged him from all sides.  
  
Ansel cleared his throat over the echoing laughter. "As it happens, Joonas, we do not want you to go out with out something to remember us by." Ansel pulled from under his chair a carefully wrapped parcel. "We imagined you would be traveling frequently, Joonas, with your commissions and all, and we wanted you to have something of us with you."  
  
With utmost care Joonas opened the brown paper that surrounded the soft package. Inside lay a soft wool cloak of hunter green. He pulled it out in awe. All his life he'd worn wool and flax, because those were the manor's chief products. But a cloak this fine, these were what they sold to dukes and marquis, barons and baronesses like Anneke was to be, not sculptors, family or no.  
  
"Papa, it's-"  
  
"We all worked at it, Joonas," Ansel said gruffly. His eyes glowed with pride, both for his son and at his manor's skill. "Wool from our sheep, Paavo and Mama made the cloth and cloak. Astrid and Nyssa stitched that embroidery you see there. Kustaa made those handsome clasps you see there."  
  
"Pure silver, with Anneke's white opals," Kustaa said. Joonas looked up at him. Kustaa was rarely serious, but Joonas could see his brother's pride as clearly as his father's. Kustaa stroked his goatee proudly. "Best I've ever done, if I do say so myself."  
  
"You would," Ean retorted. "I painted the lining. Master Egil's wife taught me the technique."  
  
"I magicked it for you, Joonas," Anneke said quietly. "If it stains or tears, it's your own fault for getting eaten by griffins." Joonas smiled. She smiled back shyly, and then brightened suddenly. "I wrote you a song too!"  
  
Everyone groaned. "Not another song, Annie," Ean moaned.  
  
"Now, Ean," she said, pulling out her guitar from behind the door, "you know I've kept my singing out of your way because you like to study in silence, but this is a tribute to Joonas." She took a deep breath, then stopped. "It's stupid on purpose, just so you know." She took a deep breath again. "OH! Clap your hands and sing along! This is a tribute-to- Joonas song! Sing along and clap your hands! My song's not over until it begins!  
  
"My brother Joonas is leaving today, That's all there really is to say." Kustaa started to cheer, but Anneke kept going.  
  
"Clap your hands and sing along. This is a tribute-to-Joonas song!  
  
"Joonas works with stone and lime, I hope he doesn't work all the time..OH!" Anneke started in on the chorus again, and Ean settled back into his chair. He expected they would have to shut her up eventually.  
  
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That's all for now. I totally felt the need to edit this more and make all the titles consistent. Plus I added a bit more about what Anneke and her brothers looked like, in a fairly innocuous way, I hope. Chapter 2 is done and posted, which, yes, is also rather slow and doesn't quite get to Tortall, yet. Give me a few chapters, this is a very OC fic, but there will be plenty of Numair and Daine and a bunch of Kel once we get there. Anneke just has to go through some stuff first.  
  
I had posted this first part of this chapter under a different name and title, but I've since expanded the chapter and changed my name and the fic's title. (Don't ask) All in the past five months. Who's productive? Not me.  
  
Next up, Joonas gets broody! (Gotta love those hot artsy guys, huh?) In chapter 3, we'll almost get to Shehrevar. (Poor Anneke. It's a good thing we all can't be fabulously rich and talented) 


	2. The Calm Before

The night that Joonas stepped into was cool and damp- nothing irregular there. The clouds still covered the sky like a think blanket of wet wool. The world felt empty to him, and an achy feeling wore about his heart. It wasn't all about leaving; Joonas loved his work, and he knew that he would come home. He may have chosen to pass what should have been his inheritance along, but it didn't change the fact that Goranfjord was his home. He would miss his family deeply. But that feeling, that sense that all wasn't well...  
  
It was his mother's family that made him pay attention to it. His mother's family had magic, unlike most Farlanders. Raakel didn't have it, not like she said her brother Bernt did, but she was prone to, well, not visions, but her intuition was perfect. Raakel taught her sons never to doubt themselves. Joonas, particularly in his fanciful moments when he was very small, liked to think that his magic was with the earth, shaping it to his will. Later, when all his fanciful moments had passed, he decided sculpture wasn't about his will, but rather the earth's. But he still felt somehow, that maybe his mother's magic, her omniscience, had passed to him in some limited way. That feeling that there was something amiss, it was-  
  
"Joonas?" Anneke called about. Joonas turned from the tall fence he was leaning on. His sister's bright smile seemed to hold some kind of otherworldly sinister nature, illuminated by the light from the open doorway. "Look at you, shirking dish duty! It's your last night of it, surely for posterity's sake you wouldn't want to miss it!"  
  
Joonas's sense of foreboding was only increased by her presence. It was strange. Anneke's bubbly nature usually strengthened him, alleviated his own innate reticence. He forced a smile. "Just memorizing the night."  
  
"Painting pictures, Joonas?" she asked, joining him at his spot by the fence.  
  
"Yes." He looked back out at the dark hills.  
  
"Lovely night to memorize." Joonas didn't have to look at her to know her nose was wrinkled in sarcasm.  
  
"Mmm." Joonas felt her arms wrap around his ribs. He could feel her cold hands through his shirt.  
  
"You'll be too busy to miss us, Joonas." Anneke smiled up at him, but Joonas heard the sadness in her voice.  
  
"Me too busy? What about you? You're the one who has to learn all those ridiculous court manners and geneologies and Gods know what else."  
  
"And never have any fun at that. You know, I thought I was supposed to be in charge there, but all they every do is yell at me. 'Lady Anneke, no running.' 'Lady Anneke, be quiet.' 'Lady Anneke, stop breathing.'" Anneke threw her hands into the air. "Honestly, it's stupid. I'm truly dreading my formal introduction. These nobles are bound to be terribly boring."  
  
"Well, I'm bound to be seeing you often, at least. You don't know how many commissions Master Eilert gets from them. He's always in demand."  
  
"So you'll always be in demand."  
  
"I suppose." They fell silent. If Joonas were honest, and he always was, it was Anneke he would miss the most. From the day she arrived at Goranfjord, she was his favorite sibling. Joonas had taking it upon himself to protect her from Kustaa's teasing, from Ean's experiments, and Paavo's lectures. Joonas had introduced her to the sheep when she was frightened- of course, she was barely two. It was Joonas who discovered that she could sing, and Joonas who made her sing all the time. When Joonas was scared of leaving for Eilert's the first time, it was Anneke who cried for days before and days afterward, and Anneke was the only one that Joonas would allow to see his own tears and fright at the prospect of leaving Goranfjord.  
  
"What's wrong, Joonas?" And it was Anneke who always knew when something was wrong.  
  
He sighed. "I just have this feeling I don't like."  
  
"Like Mutti's feelings?"  
  
"I don't know. I just feel...I don't know. Dark, I guess."  
  
"More than just sad?"  
  
Joonas nodded. "It isn't about leaving. It's something else. Something is happening, Annie. Something awful."  
  
Anneke shivered, wrapping her gray shawl tigher around her slender shoulders. "Worse than the time the old bell-weather when mad and tried to kill us?"  
  
"It was just tired of your singing."  
  
"Ean put him up to it." They both laughed.  
  
Joonas's laughter faded. He sighed again and shook his blond curls. "I don't know, Annie. Just promise me you'll be careful."  
  
"I always am, Joonas. You know that."  
  
"I know you, Annie."  
  
"I'm not a trouble maker, Joonas!"  
  
"I know, Annie. I'm just...turning into Astrid."  
  
"Heaven help us all!" Anneke declared, grinning. "You promise too, Joonas. Promise you'll be careful."  
  
"Extra careful. I'm in the same city as Kustaa."  
  
"Oh Gods. I'll never see my brothers again."  
  
"You're worried about seeing your brothers? Hah! If Kustaa has anything to do with it, you'll never be able to show your face in Konnigsstadt, let alone the palace!"  
  
"I'm counting on that, at least. Save me some tedium."  
  
Joonas made light of his anxiety for the rest of the night. He knew Anneke would be careful; he wasn't worried about his brothers as they could care for themselves. He and Anneke stayed out a bit longer, talking, and then came in to help clean what was left of their feast. But as he lay down in his bed for the last time, his mind was filled with dark tidings, and he fell asleep, seeing Anneke alone.  
  
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Well, that certainly was a cheery chapter, and it did very little to advance my plot! Don't worry, Chapter Three gives us Castle Shehrevar and a little more character and plot development, and then in Chapter Four we learn a bit more about Anneke's family history and she makes a special friend (saucy wench)  
  
I'd like to know if someone's reading this; it would truly warn the cockles of my heart to get a review. Doesn't have to be much, just a little "Hey! I'm reading this!" with a bit of "This rocks!" or "This blows!" I don't mind plot input either, although you've got very little idea of where I'm going with this at this point. Let's review some facts:  
  
1. Anneke's parents are dead/missing and she was raised by her loving aunt and uncle. 2. Anneke's parents had magic...I told you her dad did, well, her mom, Miranda, did too. 3. Miranda is from Tortall...yes she's an OC, yes, she's really dead. 4. Anneke's got magic too. How much? We'll see. 5. Anneke's nobility. I haven't come right out and told you, but here goes; she's a duchess. Shehrevar is a duchy. It's a neat little seaside city and it fits quite interestingly into the geopolitcal landscape of the Farlands. Bernt, Anneke's father and Duke of Shehrevar, was quite popular with the King and Queen, but that's rare. Farlanders don't trust magic, they don't trust magicians, and they don't trust people from Shehrevar. Shehrevar is the magical stronghold of the Farlands, which is rather like New Zealand, if New Zealand were half the size of Indonesia. 6. The Farlands are west of the Copper Isles.  
  
Alright, that's about all I'm prepared to give you at the moment. In the coming chapter I'll try to include more physical descriptions of the characters and of Gorenfjord. Gorenfjord is a barony, fyi. They're minor nobility.  
  
I didn't add a whole lot to this chapter, I'm fairly well satisfied with it. I wanted to add a little more character description, and almost gave Joonas a bear just so aI could say something, but I decided against it. It just felt out of place. Chapter three is crazy with it though. The whole chapters getting out of hand. It's the whole reason I ended up accidently deleting this story in the first place. I had it all finished and posted and then realized that there was a whole section for chapter three planned out that I had left unfinished, and that that section was the entire reason for chapter three existing in the first place (other than the fact you need a chapter three before chapter 4, but whatever).  
  
Please R&R! I'll love you forever! 


	3. The Road to Shehrevar

The road to Shehrevar was a long one, and rocky, but far easier than the road from Shehrevar, which was almost entirely uphill. Anneke found this rather ironic. Leaving the home of her adopted parents was far easier physically than it should have been. She knew how Joonas felt about leaving. Nothing about Castle Shehrevar could compare to Goranfjord. Nothing about the surrounding city could compare to Shehrevar. Anneke couldn't claim to have any great knowledge of the city; Dame Elke and Steward Klaes did not approve of her mixing with commoners. Anneke had long since decided that her tutors feared that she was far too irregular already, what with the sheep and the singing and the magic. Apparently proper ladies didn't fall in for such things, which only served to fuel Anneke's notion that proper ladies were most boring.  
  
The journey to Shehrevar from Gorenfjord took about half a day. The whole house awoke at the crack of dawn, even if the only people leaving were Anneke, Joonas, Kustaa, and Ean. The three men would escort their sister as far as her castle, and then continue onto Konigsstadt.  
  
The road itself was rocky. As careful as Anneke's mare Sheep (thus named by Anneke in fit of stupidity) was, Anneke was still tossed around in the saddle. Anneke didn't really mind, having gotten used to it. She managed to in a comfortable stance that allowed her to ignore the journey for the most part. Today was simply another dreary day that had followed a dreary night. The sky was still covered in a thick blanket, which now began to drizzle weakly on the small train of horses that ventured down the mountain. Anneke had practically slept through the first village outside of the manor, and she wouldn't miss much if she slept through the second.  
  
If the sky was dreary and the villages unexciting, the mountains were what Anneke loved. Even in the rain they were a bright, deep green, occasionally broken by fields of grain and flax or disorganized rows of stones and broken earth. Anneke smiled at a small flock of sheep as she passed the field in which they grazed. A small shepherd looked up at Anneke's party. Anneke waved, and the little boy waved back.  
  
"Sheepses, sheepses all around," Anneke sang to him. "Going up and going down. Sheepses eating green grass down, make Pedar Weft the best shepherd in town."  
  
"Except for Duchess Anneke, 'cause she sings good!" Kustaa belted out in a terrible monotone.  
  
"Oh, stop it, Kustaa. Pedar's doing a very good job," Anneke scowled good-naturedly. "Look at him, he's reading that book you gave him, Ean."  
  
"Good for him! It's about time someone in that village got a brain. You like the book, Pedar?" Ean called out.  
  
"No, Master Ean! It's frightful boring!"  
  
Joonas, Kustaa, and Anneke laughed. "We'll send you up a new one, Pedar!" Joonas shouted. "Something with pirates."  
  
"Thank you, Master Joonas!" the little boy called after them.  
  
"I told you that political philosophy was over his head, Ean," Anneke said reasonably as the continued on. "He's only eleven."  
  
"He's the only one around besides us with half a brain," Ean argued. "I'm just trying to bring a little-"  
  
"With philosophy, Ean? You're lucky the boy can read, let alone likes to!" Jonas said. "We'll send him the pirates book, and then maybe something with some history. That's always good. He'll like the battles."  
  
"You could send him a book on economic theory, Ean," Kustaa joked. "Then you could get Pedar Weft, the best shepherd this side of Shehrevar, to bring money and new jobs and financial stability to the Goren Hills."  
  
"The Goren Hills are financially stable," Anneke said. "Look at our villages. Everyone is clothed, most people can read, everyone has enough to eat. It isn't perfect, but we're much better off than some of the other places in the Shehrevar district, not to mention the rest of the islands. And the Shehrevar district, as a whole, has taken a huge slide in the past fifteen years, due to-"  
  
"Gods, Ean, what have you done to her?" Kustaa asked. "She sounds like you!"  
  
"Kustaa, it's my responsibility to know the issues that face the success of the people in my duchy. Far too many nobles-"  
  
"I know, Annie," Kustaa cut her off. "Spare me the lecture." He urged his horse faster, to the front of the train.  
  
"Just because you don't like to hear it, Lord Hedonist, doesn't mean you can ignore it," she called.  
  
"Stuff it, Annie."  
  
"Fine!" Just like Kustaa. All he cares about was having a good time. He never wanted to hear about the bad things, the things that needed to be done. He was a fine worker, always did whatever was asked of him around Gorenfjord and, Anneke presumed because they hadn't thrown him out yet, his master's workshop. But he could never be concerned about the welfare of less fortunate commoners.  
  
Anneke fumed silently. Didn't he understand that this was what nobles were supposed to care about? Of course not. All Kustaa cared about was gems and precious metals, and having enough money to spend it on whatever he wanted.  
  
"The ducal holdings fairing all right then?" Joonas asked quietly, shaking about of her reverie.  
  
"What? Oh, yes, from what I can gather, they're fine. Steward Klaes has done a fine job of building the treasury. It's simply..." Anneke trailed off, unsure of what to say.  
  
Joonas watched her for a moment, then off down the road, following Anneke's own gaze. "Your father was a different man." Anneke nodded vaguely. "I remember him, a little. I was twelve when they died, you know. Bernt was like you." Anneke looked up at him. "Always laughing. He'd walk into a room and he just had you. When we went to the castle, it was always bright. There were people every where. All the servants seemed happy. Your mother and Aidan, he loved them so much. Bernt and our father, they would talk for hours about politics and sheep and money and things I didn't understand, and then Miranda would bring in you and Aidan and it was like there was no one else in the world. People respected your father. He brought Shehrevar respect, something most Farlanders don't have for us. And you know what?" He paused. Anneke's green and gold eyes were bright with anticipation. "He could sing." Anneke laughed. "He could. Kustaa! What was that song that Duke Bernt always used to sing?"  
  
"What, the one about the sailors? Across the angry sea they came-"  
  
"So fearless and so fair!" Joonas joined in. "That's the one, Kustaa! How'd it go?"  
  
"Gods, Joonas, by the time Bernt got everyone singing that song we were practically asleep!"  
  
"And all the men were drunk, yes, I know!" Joonas turned to Anneke. "Ask around, Annie. Someone's bound to know. Find out about Old Bernt; people liked him. They'll remember. With you, they'll get back their old glory."  
  
"If Steward Klaes let's me at them," Anneke grumbled, but she was smiling a little.  
  
"Since when do you take no for an answer?"  
  
Anneke's smile broadened a bit and they rode on in silence. There were no other villages to pass through until they reached Zauberstaadt, the capital of the Shehrevar province. A light mist began to fall. Anneke covered her hair with a deep grey shawl, and Joonas wrapped his new cloak more tightly around him. The water beaded and slid off of it; the deep green wool was completely waterproof. Joonas smiled with pride. He glanced at Anneke, and his grin faded. The rain didn't slide off of her shawl as it did his cloak. Only the natural oils present in the wool kept the water from seeping in and they didn't do a very good job.  
  
"Annie?" Joonas called. Anneke looked over at him. He'd evidently caught her in another daydream. She had that look on her face that said he'd only just reminded her that the rest of the world existed. "Annie, why didn't you spell your shawl?"  
  
Her eyes went wide, and she touched the wet shawl, then slid a few runaway hairs back underneath it, looking away. Joonas frowned. Evasive Annie always made him worry more than Naive Annie did.  
  
"It takes awhile," was her quiet reply. "To spell things, like your cloak. It takes a lot of time."  
  
"Your shawl wouldn't take half so long as my cloak, Annie," Joonas argued. She wouldn't meet his eyes. "Is this about your magic? Why wouldn't you want to use your magic for something useful?"  
  
"It isn't like that, Joonas," Annie protested.  
  
"Is it Steward Klaes? Are he and Dame Elke discouraging you from practicing your magic?"  
  
"No! Joonas, it isn't them. I mean, they're not thrilled with magic, but they're letting me study it." It wasn't a total lie. Anneke had convinced Steward Klaes and Dame Elke that as Shehrevar was the magic capital of the Farlands she should be able to perform at least a few small magics to satisfy the people in her duchy. They didn't want her knowing too much, as they feared a reputation as a sorceress would damage her marriage prospects. It wouldn't hurt them any if Anneke was studying magic a little more thoroughly than they would like. "They're not bad people Joonas. They're just...self-involved. They don't understand magic. Most people outside of Shehrevar, and even a lot in Shehrevar fear magic. They're letting me study it because they know that I need to. Most people in our province appreciate magic. They're used to the Shehrevars having magic. They'll likely expect to see a little."  
  
"Naturally. So why not practice on your shawl?"  
  
Anneke sighed. Joonas wouldn't let it go. He was like a dog with a bone that way. He could be even more stubborn than Ean. "I can't."  
  
"What to you mean, you can't? You did my cloak fine."  
  
"Not so fine."  
  
"What do you mean? Look at it." Joonas shook his sleeve. The raindrops flew off easily; the fabric was perfectly dry.  
  
"Joonas, I know the spell came out fine."  
  
"Then what do you mean you can't?"  
  
"It isn't that I can't. It's...it's hard."  
  
"I wasn't under the impression it was easy."  
  
"No, Joonas, really hard. To you remember how sick I was when you came home."  
  
Joonas remembered very clearly. He had arrived at Gorenfjord to find Anneke lying in bed, pale and wan. She looked like she had lost weight, and her skin was like ice. Her normally rosy blush was gone, and her face was ashen. Her green and gold eyes, normally bright and smiling, were dull, and she could barely speak. She had recovered in the next couple days, but Joonas had been sure she was going to die when he first saw her.  
  
He nodded in reply, jaw clenched. He hated feeling helpless, and seeing Anneke so sick made him feel that way.  
  
"I wasn't sick."  
  
Joonas raised an eyebrow. "Sure fooled me."  
  
"No, I mean, it wasn't an illness." Joonas looked at her, waiting for Anneke to continue. "It was the magic. The magic made me sick."  
  
Joonas jaw dropped. He fingered the egded of the cloak. "This? You did this and you got sick like that?" Anneke nodded guiltily. "Annie! You shouldn't have done it! You could have died!"  
  
"I wasn't going to die, Joonas," Anneke rolled her eyes. "You're being dramatic. Magics like that, they just take a lot out of me."  
  
"I thought you were going to die, Annie, you shouldn't have-"  
  
"Shouldn't have what?" Anneke hissed angrily. "Shouldn't have done one of the simplest spells in the book? Joonas, that's basic magic! Anyone with a Gift can do it, or should be able to. But I can't. I don't know why. Hell, I can set fires easily enough."  
  
"Set fires!" Joonas yelped. Kustaa and Ean looked back at them.  
  
"Who's setting fires?" Kustaa asked.  
  
"No one is setting fires, Kustaa," Annie sighed.  
  
"Is this about your magic, Annie?" Ean asked.  
  
"What, they know?" Joonas asked angrily.  
  
"Of course they know, Joonas, they were there. Honestly. This is why I didn't tell you. I knew you'd react this way."  
  
"What way?"  
  
"Get all protective and guilty because I did something that I wanted to do, even though I knew that I would have a not-so- nice reaction to it."  
  
"You nearly died, Ann."  
  
"I did not. I just looked like Hell."  
  
"And would you stop talking like Kustaa?"  
  
"What wrong with the way I talk?" Kustaa asked.  
  
"You swear like a sailor," Ean told him.  
  
"Most of my friends are sailors."  
  
"Do you have the same nasty diseases, too?"  
  
"Eat sheep dung, Ean."  
  
"Crotch itch not so pleasant, eh, Kustaa?"  
  
"That's gross, Ean," Anneke said.  
  
"It's a social disease, Annie," Ean smirked. "Maybe the instances will go down as you fix Shehrevar's poverty."  
  
"Too late for our dear brother, I'm afraid," Joonas said evilly.  
  
"We can always protect the sheep," Ean laughed.  
  
"EW!" Annie screamed "EW! EW! EW! That's disgusting! EW! EW!"  
  
"Can I just say that not only do I not have crotch itch, but I have also NEVER looked at a sheep that way?" Kustaa said.  
  
"You can say it, Kustaa, but that doesn't mean we have to believe it," Ean teased.  
  
"I'm so thoroughly disgusted, I can't even tell you," Anneke said, but she couldn't help grinning slightly.  
  
"Oh, the poor Duchess Shehrevar and her delicate ears!" Ean teased.  
  
"Delicate health is more like it," Joonas groused, steering the conversation back to Anneke's magic.  
  
"Drop it, Joonas."  
  
"Oh, come on, Annie! Why did you push it? So you can't do a waterproofing spell, what of it? At least you can show those damn city folk some interesting fireworks!"  
  
"But I should be able to, Joonas! My magic is strong enough that I should be able to do it!"  
  
"What, just because you're magic? Maybe some people can only do fires. Why does it matter?"  
  
"Because I can do this!" Where Anneke and her horse had been there was now a large stone wall. The other horses reared back in fright. Kustaa and Ean shouted in surprise. The wall flickered a moment and then Anneke and Sheep were back, looking right as rain.  
  
Joonas could only stare at her. He'd seen magicians perform at carnivals and such before. He could clearly remember Bernt and Miranda casting spells. Even their son Aidan, just a few years older than Anneke could light fires on command. But never had he seen such a quick and easy transformation as that. And that she had turned Sheep too, it was amazing. Even the animals believed it.  
  
"It's just a simple illusion spell," Anneke shrugged. "I didn't actually transform into a wall. Walls are easiest because they're fairly regular. I'm working on fields and that sort of thing. I think that if I can master invisibility-"  
  
"Annie!" Joonas shouted at last. She looked up at him, startled. "But that's- that's supposed to be hard!"  
  
Anneke shrugged again. "But it isn't. I've been able to do it for a long time. When I was little and we played hide and seek, remember how I'd always win? I just stood beside the barn wall and pretended I wasn't there. I guess it worked."  
  
The three brothers simply goggled at her a moment, then Kustaa roared with laughter. "You hid in plain sight!" he managed to choke out. "That's priceless! Oh, lords, and we all thought you just hid inside with Mama and Astrid! Invisible Annie!"  
  
"That's why I should be able to do the waterproofing charms!" Anneke said. "But I can't. I mean, I know I should be able to, and I really think I can, and I can, eventually, but I should either be able to do it or not. It shouldn't take as much out of me as it does."  
  
"Sometimes big magics take a lot out of people," Joonas said uncertainly. "I mean, once Bernt came up when we all had a fever to heal us, and after he had made us better, the barn caught fire and Bernt just willed it out. I remember he ended up looking worse than we had."  
  
"Can't heal," Anneke muttered sullenly. "I can put out fires, though."  
  
"I wouldn't worry about it Annie," Kustaa said. "You probably just have to practice. You know, start small."  
  
Anneke didn't bother to inform him that she did practice.  
  
For once, Ean agreed with Joonas. "You probably just think you can't because you've had trouble in the beginning," he said reasonably. "The more you practice and the more you can convince yourself you can, the more you'll be able to."  
  
Anneke nodded. "Right, Ean. Right."  
  
Only Joonas saw her scowl.  
  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- Alright! Finally finished that puppy! Whew! You know, I had it all done and posted, and the day posted it I woke up at two in the morning and realised that I had completely forgotten an entire conversation, and that conversation was basically the whole reason for chapter 3 existing, besides the fact that there's usually a chapter 3 before a chapter 4.  
  
So, we're not quite at Castle Shehrevar yet, but I promise, the next charter is Anneke at her ancestral home. This chapter pretty much was just the character stuff. Annie is more aware of her people that I realized. Her little tirade came out of nowhere! I wasn't expecting that. If you're thinking that Kustaa's an ass, don't worry, I've got a bit of redemption in mind for him, but it's a loooooooooooooong way down the line. Doesn't really matter, though, because he disappears for a good five chapters at least.  
  
Looks like Annie may have some issues with the locals! And what's with her magic?  
  
I'm only anticipating Anneke being in the Farlands for about 3-4 more chapters. This may seems like a while, but on my computer a chapter is about 2 1/2 pages. In that time, Anneke investigates her parents, meets somebody interesting, and finds a couple mysteries. The chapters are getting longer here on out. This one was a good eight pages long! I don't think I've written a paper for school that's been that long since I wrote my senior thesis in high school! (Which took me three and a half hours and was about the colour black and how I'm not a goth. No, I'm serious. I got an A! It's my proudest moment.)  
  
Someone asked me about a potential romance plot. Look for somebody to arrive at the end of chapter 4 or in chapter 5. He's quite dishy, if I do say so myself. :)  
  
And I think I promised some physical character descriptions, but I think those are going in chapter 4. I always have issues making physical descriptions seem natural. Ah, well, nothing an obnoxious tutor can't fix!  
  
For the first time since I started, I actually have not started writing out chapter 4. So this may actually take a little while. Hopefully not too long, but we'll see.  
  
Sorry for the long author notes, but I'm feeling chatty. Thanks for reading, and please review!  
  
Review. PLEASE!!!! It makes me happy! A happy author is an inspired author. REVIEW!!! 


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